Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.

"Who does?" Thalia snorted. She was still sore about the whole dying thing. Beside her Annabeth nodded her head.

If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: close this book right now. Believe what-ever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.

"That's a shit idea" Clarisse snorted. "The monsters would just find you because of your scent and you'll die with no training" Reina nodded her head in agreement to Clarisse's words.

"But the mist should hide you from monsters" Hazel said with a frown. "Not if your scent is a strong one. The mist would only obscure your sight them. The monsters wouldn't need to see you to know you're a demigod" Athena answered.

Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.

"Check, check and check" Thalia mumbled under her breath. Annabeth looked at her friend with sad eyes and just hugged her tightly which Thalia didn't mind. Jason stared at her intently. There was something familiar about her.

If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think its fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.

"It's good to know my thoughts are free for everyone to read" Percy grumbled out loud. "So you believe this?" Grover asked. He was sure Percy would have complained about how this was all a dream. "Hard not to when they are sitting right in front of you" Percy mumbled to his only friend. Grover's eyes widened slightly and he nodded. Of course he was looking at them right now.

Amphitrite watched the young boy closely. Usually she wouldn't give the time of her day to any demigod of her husband's. But she was brought here by a stronger force than the gods. Maybe this boy was different from all the others. She would get her answer soon she knew.

But if you recognize yourself in these pages, if you feel something stirring inside, stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before they sense it too, and they'll come for you. Don't say I didn't warn you.

"Well you didn't warn us" the Stolls said unison making the daughter of Demeter sigh at their childish behavior.

My name is Percy Jackson.

"Hello Percy Jackson" Nico said with a big smile and waved at him. Percy smiled slightly and waved back.

I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York. Am I a troubled kid? Yeah. You could say that.

"Admitting is the first step to recovery" Hermes said wisely.

I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan twenty eight mental case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.

The Romans perked up hearing the words. "Sounds interesting" Annabeth mumbled under her breath.

I know it sounds like torture. Most Yancy field trips were.

Annabeth glared at Percy. Percy just looked at her blankly.

But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes. Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep.

"And he sleeps in class too!" Annabeth muttered under her breath. "With the ADHD and Dyslexia its normal he wouldn't be paying attention" Thalia said in amusement. Guess little Anny hasn't changed a bit.

I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble. Boy, was I wrong. See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway. And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind- the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim. And the time before that... Well, you get the idea.

"Nooooo tell us moooore!" Apollo and Hermes whined like children. They loved hearing the bad luck of this Percy Jackson. It was hilarious to them. Even Ares approved of the destruction this sea spawn was creating.

"Children" Artemis muttered shaking her head.

This trip, I was determined to be good.

"He just jinxed himself" Leo chuckled to himself.

All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend Grover in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich.

"One what a bitch. And two who eat peanut butter and ketchup sandwich!?" Thalia muttered in disgust. "Apparently this girl" Katie said making a disgusted face. Whether it was because of the food or the girl no one was certain.

Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated. He must've been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled. He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.

"Gee thanks for the flattering introduction" Grover muttered with a roll of his eyes. Percy just chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his head, stealing glances at Grover's legs. He still couldn't believe his best friend was a donkey waist down.

Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death by in school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.

"Well that's no fun" Apollo frowned. "We should go visit this headmaster after this is over" Hermes whispered to Apollo who nodded eagerly.

"I'm going to kill her" I mumbled. Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter. "

"IN your hair?" Piper raised an eyebrow and Grover blushed brightly.

He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch. "That's it. " I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat. "You're already on probation, " he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens. " Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there. In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.

"Great" Grover mutter with a groan. He was hoping this case would go smoothly.

Poseidon too looked slightly worried about his son.

Mr. Brunner led the museum tour. He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery. It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years. He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a stele, for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting, but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye. Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker. She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.

"She sounds familiar" Persephone muttered to her husband. Hades frowned slightly in thought.

From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn.

"Wouldn't that Nico, Bianca and Hazel be considered the devil spawn?" Silena asked curiously then yelped when Hades glared at her.

Persephone sighed and rubbed her husband's arm comfortingly. She hated it when people considered Hades to be the devil when he was probably the most just of the rulers.

Demeter watched her daughter with a frown. She still hated that Hades had taken her away from her home.

She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey, " real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month.

"Sounds horrible" Connor mumbled. Being a troublemaker himself, he knew exactly how those kinds of teachers were like.

One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real seri-ous, and said, "You're absolutely right. "

"You're going to blow your cover Grover" Dionysus said with a frown and the Satyr shrunk into himself. Percy frowned and patted his friend's shoulder gently.

Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art. Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and I turned around and said, "Will you shut up?" It came out louder than I meant it to.

"of course it did" Beckendorf chuckled.

The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story. "Mr. Jackson, " he said, "did you have a comment? My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir. " Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?" I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"

"It had to be that one" Poseidon muttered miserably. His siblings too looked slightly green. Even Zeus who wasn't eaten but had seen the titan king throw up his siblings.

"Yes, " Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. "And he did this because ... " "Well... " I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god, and-"

"God!?" Zeus roared. "Calm brother. I'm sure Chiron would correct him" Hestia said gently. Zeus sat down but still scowled at the illegal demigod.

"God?" Mr. Brunner asked. "Titan, " I corrected myself. "And ... He didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters-" "Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me.

"Try being there. Ew they say" Demeter muttered under her breath with a scowl. Persephone looked at her mother with a raised eyebrow.

"-and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans, " I continued, "and the gods won. "

"Years of fighting summed up in a few sentences. I like this kid already" Hermes laughed. His laughs were cut short by an arrow mere inches below his dick.

Some snickers from the group. Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids. '" "And why, Mr. Jackson, " Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"

"Busted" the Stolls said in a sing song voice.

"Busted, " Grover muttered.

"Oh no we thing like goats!" they said in horror. I don't want to eat enchiladas and tin foil all day!" Connor said dramatically. Grover gave both of the boys a sour look while Katie hti them both on the back of their heads.

"Shut up, " Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair. At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.

"Or horse ears" Silena said knowingly.

"What?" Percy asked in confusion. "It'll be explained" the girl said with a smile.

I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir. " "I see. " Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach.

"Best childhood ever" Hades said sarcastically and rolled his eyes.

"I would have thought you loved that place. All dark and damp. Reminds you of the underworld" Demeter commented snidely. Hades just rolled his eyes, not giving her a reply.

The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"

"Chiron has a weird definition of a happy note" Artemis muttered under her breath.

"Uh Grover why is everyone calling Mr. Brunner Chiron?" Percy asked. "It'll be explained I guess" Grover just shrugged making the boy sigh.

The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses. Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson. " I knew that was coming. I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?" Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go- intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.

"They have" Hestia said with a nod.

"You must learn the answer to my question, " Mr. Brunner told me. "About the Titans?" "About real life. And how your studies apply to it. " "Oh. " "What you learn from me, " he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson. " I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard. I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "What ho!'" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever lived, and their mother, and what god they worshipped.

"Okay that might be a bit too much" Apollo muttered. "That is not at all too much" Athena huffed. "Of course not brainiac" Apollo muttered to himself.

But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C- in my life. No he didn't expect me to be as good; he expected me to be better. And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly. I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral.

"Probably has been" Annabeth nodded.

He told me to go outside and eat my lunch. The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue. Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city.

The gods all looked at Zeus curiously. "What's got your toga in a twist?" Hades asked and Zeus shrugged.

I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York state had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.

"And what about you?" Hades turned to Poseidon. "Amphitrite kicked you out of bed?" he asked with a smirk.

Poseidon sputtered and gaped like a fish while Amphitrite just huffed at her husband.

Percy observed the god of the seas intently. "So he is my father" he thought.

Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.

"Of course" Leo muttered. He hated people who played favorites.

Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from that school-the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere. "Detention?" Grover asked. "Nah, " I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean I'm not a genius. " Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?"

Grover blushed a bright pink while the others laughed at his expense.

I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it. I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home.

"Momma's boy" Ares muttered. "What was that?" Aphrodite asked sweetly and Ares gulped. "Nothing dear" he said in a squeaky voice. His lover could be a very scary woman when angered.

She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.

Hera smiled softly. Which was a record in itself because she never like demigods. But this one felt different. Maybe this could be her first favorite.

Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table.

Hephaestus, Beckendorf and Leo perked up at the mention of such a machine. "Hmm maybe I could do some modifications to it" the thought went through all three of their heads.

I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends-I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists-and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.

"I really hate that bitch" Thalia growled in anger.

"I say we go visit her after all this is over" Travis said with an evil grin on his face. "Agreed" Connor said with an equally evil face.

"Sometimes you two creep the fuck out of me" Katie muttered.

"Oops. " She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray- painted her face with liquid Cheetos.

Aphrodite and Silena made a face at that description. "She couldn't be that bad looking" Piper asked. "No Percy is being modest here" Grover muttered and mother and daughters grimaced.

I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper. " But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears.

"Like father" Amphitrite muttered with a roll of her eyes. She didn't exactly mind that. It was after all this side of her husband, the willingness to protect his people and allies that made her love him so dearly. If this demigod was anything like that, she might actually start to like him.

I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!" Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us. Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see-"

"-the water-"

"-like it grabbed her-"

"So it comes naturally to him" Poseidon mused. "Did it not come like that to your other children?" Persephone asked. "Not all my children got that ability. To manipulate the water like that. Only Triton can do that. My demigods usually are good at not drowning at sea and reading sea charts without a sea chart" he explained to her.

I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again. As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc. , etc. , Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey-"

"I know, " I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks. "

"Noooooo never guess your punishments!" Hermes groaned. Artemis shut him up with another arrow.

That wasn't the right thing to say. "Come with me, " Mrs. Dodds said. "Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. I pushed her. " I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death.

"I was very surprised" Percy confirmed his own thoughts.

She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled. "I don't think so, Mr. Underwood, " she said.

"But-"

"You-will-stay-here. "

Grover looked at me desperately. "It's okay, man, " I told him. "Thanks for trying. "

"Honey, " Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "Now. "

Nancy Bobofit smirked. I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare.

"A kid like you has a stare like that? Must be a real wimp if anyone is scared of that" Clarisse snorted. Percy as a reply just treated her to that look. Clarisse would feel very embarrassed when she would admit that the stare scared the shit out of her.

Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on. How'd she get there so fast?

"Monster" Thalia said stiffly. Beside her Annabeth stiffened as well .Grover gave Percy a nervous look, like he was seeing him die in many different ways.

I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.

"Not so sure about that" Annabeth muttered.

I wasn't so sure. I went after Mrs. Dodds. Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel. I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall. Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.

"You wish" Ares snorted. If this was a monster, then there would be no shirt buying or anything.

But apparently that wasn't the plan. I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section. Except for us, the gallery was empty.

The room got tensed all of a sudden. Everyone's full attention on the book now. Even Dionysus looked to be paying attention.

Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it...

"You've been giving us problems, honey, " she said.

I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am. "

She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?" The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.

"Probably was" Hades commented off handedly.

She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me. I said, "I'll-I'll try harder, ma'am. "

Thunder shook the building.

They frowned at Zeus.

"We are not fools, Percy Jackson, " Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain. "

I didn't know what she was talking about. All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room.

"I like him more now" Hermes chuckled.

Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on Tom Sawyer from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.

Athena read that part with a scandalized look on her face. A look that was mirrored on her daughter's face as well.

"Well?" she demanded.

"Ma'am, I don't... "

"Your time is up, " she hissed.

Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.

"A fury!?" roared Poseidon. Here was the thing about Poseidon's anger. He was a cool and calm customer normally, easy going, almost lazy. But when you go on his wrong side, he would explode like an underwater volcano.

And right now the target of that anger was directed towards the king of the dead. Hades gulped slightly and raised his hand sin surrender. "It's in the future brother. I have no idea why I sent Alecto out like that" he defended himself.

Poseidon had more to say to his older brother. But his wife had pulled him back down and was holding his hand firmly. If there was anyone that could calm him at a time like this, it was Amphitrite.

"If he gets hurt" he said dangerously, letting the threat hang.

Then things got even stranger. Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand. "What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air. Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.

With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword-Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day. Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes. My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.

"Pathetic" Ares thought. But even he knew that a demigod facing up against a monster for the first time with no prior training or experience was bound to freeze up. And the being a torturer of Hades was no help either.

She snarled, "Die, honey!" And she flew straight at me. Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword.

"That came to you naturally?" Reina asked incredulously. Percy as an answer merely shrugged. He didn't know how he could explain how his instincts worked.

The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. Hisss! Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me. I was alone.

"He killed a fury" Clarisse said in shock. "And that too in one slice" Will muttered. "With no damage" Silena said. "And this was his first time too" Beckendorf said. The camp members all turned to Percy slowly. Said boy fidgeted uncomfortably in his seat.

There was a ballpoint pen in my hand. Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me. My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or some-thing.

"Magic mushrooms" Travis mused. "So many ideas" Connor mused. Katie quickly hit them both on the back of their heads. "No!" she said sternly with a glare.

Had I imagined the whole thing? I went back outside. It had started to rain. Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt. "

"Who?" Thalia asked in confusion.

I said, "Who?"

"You thnk like Percy" Connor snickered then yelped when a bolt of lightning hit his ass.

"Our teacher. Duh!" I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr.

"The mist!" Annabeth realized. "Right that" Thalia shook her head.

I asked Nancy what she was talking about. She just rolled her eyes and turned away. I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was. He said, "Who?" But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.

"You're a bad liar" Hermes, Travis, Connor and Apollo said in unison. Grover groaned slightly, the tip of his ears bright from blushing.

"Not funny, man, " I told him. "This is serious. " Thunder boomed overhead.

"Dad agrees" Apollo nodded seriously.

I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved. I went over to him. He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson. " I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it. "Sir, " I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?" He stared at me blankly. "Who?" "The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher. " He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?"

"Now that's a lie!" Hermes exclaimed with a smile.

Athena rolled her eyes and passed it over to Persephone to read next.